


Out Into the Light

by TaraTyler



Series: SuperCat Fam [7]
Category: Supercat - Fandom, Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-25
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-06-04 08:38:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6650653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaraTyler/pseuds/TaraTyler





	1. Chapter 1

Kara was known for being sunny and sweet. She had once been described as being terminally optimistic. Cat Grant, however, felt like she had seen more of the girl in one explosion of temper and tight black dresses than in the entire first two years of knowing her. Her tightly pulled back blonde hair and snarkily lifted eyebrows were stunning. It showed drive.

Still, after only a few days, Kara was back to her normal self. Cat was left stunned and confused. There was new aspect to Kara’s behavior now to be analyzed though, one that made Cat’s chest ache. Kara always carried herself with pride, her shoulders back and head held high. She had a particular kind of strength to her that Cat couldn’t understand.

“Now, when the young woman didn’t know that anyone was watching, her shoulders would sag and her face would screw up in pain. Kara sapped up all of the light in a room before. Now she was dark and angry and terribly sad. It was the kind of sadness that overwhelmed everything else. Kara was brilliant actress, Cat had to give her that, but it couldn’t fool an investigative reporter of her caliber.

Cat knew Kara had her own reasons for having flaked out of work so regularly and just missing work so often. It was what had her suspicious of Kara possibly being supergirl herself. Now she entered her glass box of an office space only to find the girl sitting on her rough stone balcony floor, doing her work in the sunlight. Well, Kara looked like she had been attempting to work. Instead, her head was tipped back towards the sun, like she was trying to access more of it. Like she was drinking it in.

“Kira… may I ask what in the world it is that you think you are doing?” Cat asks with a quirk of an eyebrow.

“Oh… I am so sorry, ma’am. You weren’t supposed to be back for a good thirty more minutes.” Kara breaks out of whatever reverie she had been in and attempts to scramble to her feet.

“That didn’t answer my question. What are you doing?” Cat asks again.

“The layouts, ma’am. I know that I should be at my desk. I’ll go now. I’m sorry, Ms.Grant.” Kara stutters. “It’s just… the sun.”

“You’re right, it’s a beautiful day. Stay if you like.” Cat smiles softly, glad to be able to do something to help her assistant out. She thought that it was kind of cute that Kara enjoyed the sunlight that much. It was almost like a kitten curled up in a ray of sunshine.

Cat watches for a moment while Kara gets reabsorbed in the layouts spread around in front of her. Her long legs are tucked underneath her shoes discarded at the doorway. Her cardigan is draped over the balcony railing. A normally perfect updo is losing a few locks of hair that Kara occasionally tucks behind her ears.

Cat sees Kara squirming and drags in a blanket to sit upon next to her, sharing. Kara smiles thankfully in reply and returns to work. It’s hot outside, blistering, even and Kara doesn’t seem at all affect by it. Her skin is a glowing shade of golden brown that makes Cat wonder if she spurts a lot time outside like this. She’s spent an inordinate amount of time wondering about Kara lately.

Without those ridiculous cardigans on, Cat can see definition in the muscles of lean arms. Maybe that could be a part of the hidden behind blue eyes. Cat knew that Kara had known loss; way more loss than anyone that young should ever have to. Now, she was finding that the girl had overcome it. It had instilled Kara with an iron backbone.

She hummed under her breath while she worked. It wasn’t a typical pop song either, or rap, or hip-hop like the millennials usually listened to. Cat couldn’t place the tune but it soothed her. Her intrigue raised. So help her, Kara was the most interesting person in the building, Supergirl or not.

“The other day… you seemed different. Was everything okay?” Cat asks before she can convince herself not to.

“Yes, Ms.Grant. I was just feeling a bit off is all.” Kara answers apprehensively without looking up.

“I’m honestly glad that I fired Siobhan. She was caught sneaking into the office. Apparently she wanted to exact her revenge on you so she sent a heinous email from your account, saying some terribly rude things to me. I knew that it wasn’t you, so I brought her in, threatened her with legal recourse and sent her away again. I wasn’t going to let that happen to you, but I also thought that you should know, just os you could watch out.” Cat says, watching the micro-expressions flit across Kara’s face. “You are a better assistant than she ever thought about being anyway.”

“Siobhan didn’t want to help you, Ms.Grant. HSe wanted to be you. There is a very stark difference between the two. You should maybe think about going back inside as well, you aren’t wearing sunscreen and you burn easily.”

Kara still looked fine, though. She wasn’t at all pink and she lacked the thin sheen of sweat that prickled at Cat’s skin. She seemed totally in her element and happy. Cat decided to suggest working outside to Kara on pretty days from now on. The young woman looked radiant.

Cat took Kara’s advice and went back to her desk, taking the occasional glance back over to her assistant. Cat had seen her in almost every dress-code, but didn’t think that she had ever been more beautiful than she looked right now. She was struck with one of her more brilliant plans then. Cat sent a couple of emails and made a few calls before looking back to Kara.

“Carol, can you come back in here for a moment?” Cat asks.

Kara rolls her eyes dramatically before standing. Apparently she was getting much too used to Cat’s teasing misuse of the name, recognizing it for the teasing sign of affection that it was. She set about giving Kara a list of assignments that would keep her off of the administrative floor for at least an hour.

“Oh, Kara, and when you’re done, feel free to return to my balcony as much as you like. I don’t take advantage of it half as much as it deserves.”

 

Kara’s smile is bright and sunny and everything that Cat could have hoped for at least the use of her real name. Cat’s lips twitched up slightly in pride. She hoped that the smile that she got after that might be even better. Her affection for her assistant had gone way past the mentor/mentee relationship that they had been building. She very desperately wanted to know more about her right now. Particularly when it came to this love of sunlight that he was discovering.

Cat tried hard to focus on work, but found it impossible to think when people were coming in and out of her office like this. It was distracting but also made Cat inordinately proud. She couldn’t wait to see Kara’s face. Even the hobbit that borrowed kara’s cardigans told her that Kara would appreciate it. 

“Our mutual friend will like it too, I think.” Cat says with a heavy sigh. “She’s had a rough week.”

“She’s had a rough year.” Winn corrects. “You’re not as heartless as you let on, you know.”

“Get back to work, Wyclef.” Cat growls.

“You aren’t even trying anymore.” he snorts.

She snarls and he jumps across the room to his desk. He’s still almost trembling with suppressed laughter. Cat decides that he might not be that bad after all. He honestly cares for Kara and has absolutely no chance with her. Definitely not a threat to anyone.

“I don’t pay you for the laughs, Walter!” Cat shouts just so she can have the last word.

Kara was due back in a good ten more minutes so Cat allowed herself to get reabsorbed into her work. She tried to ignore the fact that her heart beat a little bit harder.

Kara took a deep breath before reentering as well. She knew that she had definitely been sent away for some reason. However, she wasn’t sure whether she was being punished; or if maybe she had crossed a line somewhere.

Kara knew that she definitely found Cat Grant attractive and that sometimes she wore her heart on her face as opposed to her sleeve. She had to consider that maybe Cat had seen something on her face that Kara hadn’t meant to show. Kara could hear Cat in her office, shuffling papers at her desk. It bothered Kara that she had been sent away. It even kind of hurt a little bit, she had thought that they had been having a moment.

Cat’s head jerks up as soon as she hears the door and is almost embarrassed. She really wasn’t sure that she hadn’t gone too far in getting invested in her feelings for her young assistant. She had to choke down a smile in response to Kara’s bright grin. Her stomach clenches at her blush. Long blonde hair drove upwards in an intricate updo. Cat watches Kara pick at her nails anxiously and notes the lines of her throat as she turns to glance at Winn.

“Kira, did you get everything that I asked for, done?” Cat asks, all business.

“Yes, ma’am would you like anything else?” Kara asks, dong her best to be equally business minded.

“No, you may return to whatever it was that you do outside. I’ve made some changes.” Cat pretends to brush it off but likes having Kara closer. She likes to not have to look at her through glass. Kara grins again and pretends to not be rushing to see what Cat has done on the balcony. 

She finds a glass desk, totally see-through but at the perfect height for Kara with how tall she is. It was built just the same as Kara’s own. The super-hero couldn’t help her giant smile as it crossed her face, the one that could blind anyone who looked directly at it. It hurt Cat, like supernova imploding in her chest, or a thorn being pulled out of her foot, it was like that good kind of pain. Then Kara started to do her happy dance and something tight in her chest loosened up and did a happy dance too. Cat really couldn’t remember the last time that she had felt like this.

Kara didn’t really know what to feel except for happy.. This was the single most thoughtful thing that she had ever seen Cat Grant do. It made her feel warm and happy and fuzzy inside. She was slightly confused about the why, but mostly she wanted to fly...just out of pure joy. Kara could jump into the air and go for miles. Maybe this was a sign or something, from Cat or from God, but she decided to just start with a thank you.

“Cat, it’s been beautiful. Thank you.” Kara said, touched tears in her eyes.

“You love that balcony and I figured that i should use it a bit more often as well. I work so often that I probably don’t see a fifth of the sunlight that I should.” Cat laughs, out on the balcony with Kara now where no one can see her.

“Really? I practically live for the light!” Kara says with a half-smirk.

Then, quite suddenly, she spaces into the distance as though seeing something that was very far away. A flurry of expressions crosses over her face and even Cat can’t quite keep up. She sees Kara’s jaw clench and roll, wondering what that really might mean. Kara’s face falls and searches for something.

“I’m sorry, Ms.Grant but I really have to go… now, to the bathroom.” Kara lies poorly before rushing past Cat and towards Winn, whispering something before almost completely disappearing.

Cat can’t help but to feel slightly rejected. She knew that Kara had appreciated the gesture. What she couldn’t figure out was why the young woman had run off like that. Maybe the desk had been too forward of a gift. Cat didn’t know what she had done wrong.

A few seconds later and Cat is called back inside to see the reports on Supergirl doing something amazing, once again. Her strength was more than impressive and her beauty grand. Cat was once again left in awe. She saw strength in the alien hero, the kind that comes with loss. It was the same sort that she saw in Kara. Cat could only barely grasp the depth of it, but also knew that the two women were the strongest that she had ever met, and she wanted to know more.

It seemed to her that it was impossible for Kara and Supergirl to be one and the same. It also seemed to her that they couldn’t not be. The blonde hair was the same, the shining blue eyes were the exact same, and a tiny scar next to the eyebrow matched. Her strength glimmered even through her cardigans. Plus, that would mean that Cat hadn’t crossed any seriously inappropriate boundaries.

It wasn’t long before Kara came back into the office with a heavy brow and slight smell of acrid smoke. She was disheveled and sad so Cat gave her some work to do out on the balcony. The sunlight generally seemed to cheer her up. Cat put the thoughts from her mind and lost herself in work for a while. By the time that she had finished what was sure to be a fantastic spring fashion issue, she was no longer quite as concerned.

Kara was curled up in the glass chair, knees pulled up to her chest, fast asleep. Her brows were knit together into a frown of consternation. Not good dreams, then. Cat fought the urge to brush loose blonde locks of hair off of her forehead. Her feelings were really beginning to get out of central.

Instead, she pulls herself together and heads back inside. Let the girl rest, she says to herself. Kara earned it after that save. Cat decides that she will have one of the boys bring her in before the day is out. She sits and lets herself breathe for a moment.

It took her ages to calm down again. By the time that she did, the National City sun was setting. Cat gestures Winn into her office and mentally prepares herself for the banter to come. Instead of bantering, she holds a finger to her lips and gestures to Kara. Then she points over to the couch, her message clear.

“You really should just ask her out.” Winn grunts, laying his best friend on his boss’s couch before packing to leave.

“My personal affairs are none of your business, William. Now, get along to whatever hole you secretly live in, like a good boy.” Cat dismisses him.

As soon as Winn was gone, Cat knelt over Kara.

“Are you alright, Kira? You saved a whole bunch of people today, then proceeded to fall asleep at your desk like nothing I have ever seen.”

“Ah...uhm, how did I get in here?” Kara asks, not bothering to argue the ‘saving people’ bit. She had always felt that Cat had never truly been fooled at all.

“Your hobbit pal, Winifred, brought you in and left you for me to deal with. Are you good to fly home on your own?” Cat asks.

“I can’t fly, Ms.Grant. Are you really not past that, even after seeing us in the same room?” Kara protests.

“I’ve also seen Justin Bieber and Michael Jackson sing a duet. Stranger things have happened.” Cat shrugs.

“You said that we looked nothing alike.”Kara protests futily again.

“Not one of my brighter moments, I’m sure. You must admit that as Supergirl, you carry yourself differently. In the suit, you have the confidence that comes with the cape. As my assistant, you’re any old millennial out on the street. It’s the eyes that convinced me, though. That strength, that passion for life that comes with having lost it before.” Cat says pulling Kara’s glasses off of her face. “With your eyes, there is no way that you aren’t her.”

Kara’s eyes met Cat’s and she could hear her heartbeat pick-up at the prolonged gaze. She almost grinned. It was once in a blue moon that Cat was this kind to her. The desk thing was a wonderful gesture and Kara deeply appreciated it. Cat knew now, or had the whole time, and had let her keep her job anyway.

“Thank you, for the desk… and for my job.” Kara says, offering a smile at half of its usual brilliance.

“I guess that I really did end up giving you both of your jobs… didn’t I?” Cat says as though she were proud of herself.

“Honey… you’ve got no idea. I get most of my most valuable information from this place. I learn humanity here, and the things that make it important.” Kara nods, not moving to take her glasses back. She didn’t really need them anyway. “Those dampen my powers. My adoptive father made them for me out of lead, before he passed.”

“Why would you ever want to dampen your abilities?” Cat asks, her journalist’s curiosity rising up in her. Plus, the notion just seemed totally ridiculous.

“At first my powers were so incredibly overwhelming. I would see inside of people or through them. I couldn’t control a single one of my senses.” Kara puts her hand on Cat’s shoulder. “Through your clothes, I can feel your heartbeat. I can hear the blood rushing through your veins, right now and I can smell your adrenaline rising. However, I can also hear the 6:30 news being watched a building over, a couple arguing in the building over from that, and someone’s little girl pretending to be me in the third one down. That’s why I wear the glasses at work. It makes life simpler, and the information easier to sort through.” 

Cat nods as she considers what she has learned.

“You had to learn a whole new way of life on Earth, didn’t you?” Cat asks.

“Yes, and it was all quite odd to me. Birds were new, social cues were different, and whole piles of other things.” Kara snorts. “It led to lots of awkward situations that I laughed about later. You aren’t going print any of this, are you? I have family who could get hurt by it as well. I won’t put them at risk.”

“If I wanted to tell the world who Supergirl was, I would have done it already.” Cat snorts running a hand through her blonde curls. “No, as opposed to popular opinion, I actually do have a heart. You’ve been my assistant for the past two years and your alter ego has been very good for business and for National City…” Kara interrupts. “National City is my business.”

“And you, Kara Danvers, are my business. You’ve worked for me longer than almost anyone else in the building and I have found myself oddly attached to you.”

“Is this you saying that you actually like me, Ms.Grant?” Kara asks, sitting up on the couch with a dazzling smile that Cat glares at.

“I never said that.” Cat groans.

“No, but it was very much implied. You like me, with or without my powers, alien DNA, or knowledge of other planets. The ICe Queen has finally fallen to my sunny disposition and optimism.” Kara cheers and Cat throws up her hands, trying not to smile again. It was a struggle that she dealt with daily.

“Kara, you broke me a while back, and that’s impressive when I’m almost as invulnerable as you.” Cat sniggered.

“Luckily for you, I am unbreakable as well.” to prove her point, Kara rose and drove Cat’s letter opener into the back of her own hand. The object folded and crumpled against the skin. Kara winced a little but showed no other sign of pain.

“I put my blockers up, and I didn’t feel a thing.”

Cat stares in amazement and watches as Kara puts her glasses back on and immediately starts to clench and unclench her hand.

“I told you once that power was the ability to decide who lives and who dies, right?” Kara asks.

“That wasn’t a shining moment for either one of us.” Cat snorts. Her lip curls at the memory.

“I was one of the worst moments of my life. At least in the top five.” Kara massages her eye with her hands.

“Power isn’t the ability to kill; to take a life. Power is the ability to make someone love you, power is the ability to change those around you, and power is the ability to inspire. In this, you are the most powerful woman is National City, and quite possibly the world because you have done these things to me. You’ve ruined me, Cat Grant.” Kara confesses.

“Then I guess that we are both broken people. Not the best to have topping the food chain.” Cat smiles, no longer able to hold it back She doesn’t even want to anymore as Kara steps into her personal space, backing Cat into the desk.

“I think that you are the best person to top any- and everything.” Kara whispers just before her lips find Cat’s. It’s the hottest kiss that Cat Grant has ever had. She hadn’t realized before that Kara’s body temperature seemed to run almost a good five zillion degrees higher than her own.

“Damn.” she whispers when the kiss breaks, panting for breath. Kara just bites her own bottom lip and grins like the cat that caught the bird.


	2. Chapter 2

“Can you tell me more?” Cat asks, out on Kara’s balcony get away.

“About what, Ms.Grant?” she asks in reply, the name sour in her mouth, but a necessary evil.

“Your planet, Krypton. I was remembering that you said that there were no birds. If it hurts too much, you don’t have to tell me. I’m just curious.” Cat props her head up on her hand, eyes glittering with intelligence, hope and excitement.

“Sure. It hurts, but I like to keep the memories alive. Just poke me if I start to space out.” Kara readjusts herself. “It was so different. Like I told you before, there weren’t birds and the sun was red. The yellow sun here is what gives me my strength, and my powers. I need it to survive in fact. Eclipses really suck for me.” Kara’s words paint a picture for Cat.

She can feel herself being pulled away with her girlfriend.

“It was beautiful, true, but in a very sterile way. Everything was clean and cool and much too perfect. We were advanced centuries beyond Earth in technology and philosophy and equality. Those whose marriages were not arranged for political gain could marry anyone they liked. Bigotry, racism, and homophobia were never issues. Upon coming here, they confused the hell out of me…” Kara shakes her head in disgust and Cat chuckles darkly.

“Everything was perfect, except that we were literally killing ourselves. We had over-mined Krypton and killed it. Our own home. My planet. My entire world. No...my cousin and I...we’re...anyway, Kal-El doesn’t know much like this. He never experience any of it. I lived there for my first thirteen years. Kal doesn’t seem to be all that interested in learning either. His Kryptonian is terrible. The accent...ugh.” Kara snorts loudly.

“You spoke your own language?” Cat asks, intrigued.

“We spoke all of the languages. I arrived able to speak English.. There was a teaching module in my pod that I spent twelve years with.” Kara affirms. “We did have our own, though. Spoken and written.” Kara rips a sticky note away and loops writing into it.

“That’s your name...Catherine.” Kara says with a proud grin. She grabs another. “Grant.” another and Cat can recognize the symbol from the suit. “My full name, Kara Zor-El.”

“That’s on your suit.” she points out.

“Yes, and Kal’s as well. The crest of the House of El. Our emblem, and it stands for hope. Upside down, it means resurrection.” Cat can hear the grief in her voice and decides to give it a rest.

“May I keep these?” she asks.

“Sure, it’s no big. I can show you more later.” Kara shrugs.

“Lovely, now, let’s take an early lunch at Noonan’s.” Cat stands and offers Kara her hand.

“That sounds perfect.” Kara grins and follows her. Cat makes a mental note to take notes next time.


End file.
